St. Cloud State University theRepository at St. Cloud State Culminating Projects in English Department of English 4-2021 The Use of Social Media in the Classroom: Practice of Implementing Online Activities in Writing Classes Kseniia Maksimova [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/eng_etds Recommended Citation Maksimova, Kseniia, "The Use of Social Media in the Classroom: Practice of Implementing Online Activities in Writing Classes" (2021). Culminating Projects in English. 6. https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/eng_etds/6 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at theRepository at St. Cloud State. It has been accepted for inclusion in Culminating Projects in English by an authorized administrator of theRepository at St. Cloud State. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Use of Social Media in the Classroom: Practice of Implementing Online Activities in Writing Classes by Kseniia Maksimova A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of St. Cloud State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Studies May 2021 Thesis Committee: Matthew Barton, Chairperson Judith Kilborn Michael Dando 2 Abstract Social media-based activities, such as blogging or tweeting, have recently been integrated into the higher education system and become a part of writing, communication, and composition classes. Numerous studies describe teaching practices that involve the use of social media in the aforementioned classes. As a contribution to the previously conducted research, this study explores comprehensively the experiences of professors who utilize social media as a part of classroom activities in FYC/Advanced Composition. To compile and compare the experiences of composition teachers, I collected narratives that included participants’ reflection on the process of learning about social media. My work included interviewing each participant via Zoom and analyzing the collected material. The main limitation of the study has been a small number of participants that did not allow generalizing information about compositionists’ experiences. Despite the given limitations, the results of the study are expected to be a valuable source of information and inspiration for writing instructors who want to incorporate social media in the classroom. The study introduces social media-based activities and scholarly sources that participants proved to be helpful, provides practical recommendations on addressing students’ challenges, and demonstrates the value of educational networks and collaboration in the field of composition. 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis committee – Dr. Matthew Barton, Dr. Judith Kilborn, and Dr. Michael Dando for their incredible support and encouragement during this project. Special thanks to my thesis advisor Dr. Matthew Barton for his assistance, positive attitude, and dedicated involvement in every step throughout the process of research. I am also extremely grateful to all participants of my research study for their time and enthusiasm about this project. This study would not have been possible without their valuable contribution. It has been a pleasure for me to talk to all of them and learn about their unique experiences. I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude to the Fulbright program that made this journey possible for me. I am proud of being a part of the Fulbright community at St. Cloud State University, and I am especially thankful to my best friends Sakina Hassani and Tiana Aprianti who shared these two years of graduate school with me. They helped me overcome the hardest times by always encouraging me to believe in myself, which I truly appreciate. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents for supporting my ambitions and cultivating my desire for knowledge and growth. I am grateful for their patience, understanding, and unconditional love that I have carried with me all this time. 4 Table of Contents Chapter Page Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 7 Purpose of Study ......................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter One: Literature Review ..................................................................................................... 9 Defining social media.................................................................................................................. 9 Social media and multiliteracies ............................................................................................... 11 Compositionists’ experiences: the value of sharing .................................................................. 21 Chapter Two: Methodology .......................................................................................................... 27 Chapter Three: Results. Collection of narratives .......................................................................... 30 Participant 1 (P1) ....................................................................................................................... 31 Participant 2 (P2) ....................................................................................................................... 35 Participant 3 (P3) ....................................................................................................................... 40 Participant 4 (P4) ....................................................................................................................... 45 Participant 5 (P5) ........................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Participant 6 (P6) ....................................................................................................................... 54 Participant 7 (P7) ....................................................................................................................... 60 Participant 8 (P8) ....................................................................................................................... 67 Theme analysis ........................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Chapter Four: Discussion .............................................................................................................. 77 Chapter Five: Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 84 References ..................................................................................................................................... 88 5 Chapter Page Appendix A: Recruitment Poster .................................................................................................. 99 Appendix B: Consent Form ........................................................................................................ 101 Appendix C: Pre-Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 103 Appendix D: Interview Questions .............................................................................................. 104 6 Introduction The emergence of new technologies is making us reconsider a definition of literacy and, thus, creates new requirements for both learners and educators. According to K. Yancey (2004), composition instructors are witnessing the time when literacy “is in the midst of a tectonic change” (p. 298). This claim appears to be quite valid and accurate these days, given the significant impact of new technologies on people’s writing habits and their perceptions of literacy. Considering various means of communication that people have today, it seems appropriate to speak about the terms multimodality and multimodal literacies. Incorporating digital technologies in the writing classroom is obviously supposed to help students develop their multimodal literacy – “awareness and effective use of this range of modalities” (Oxford Reference, n.d.). That is why compositionists express a strong interest in using new technologies and, in particular, social media in their classes. Working on various online platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, appears to be a good technique for developing multimodal literacies among students. Overall, multiple studies illustrate that applying social media in the composition classroom has positive effects on students’ learning outcomes and helps them to develop an ability to reflect critically on their writing, awareness of their online audiences, and an ability to transfer their knowledge according to the writing context. In their research, educators also mention feedback that students provide to them at the end of the course, and they talk about students’ attitudes about social media. For instance, R. Shepherd (2015) notices that despite achieving the desired learning goals in the class, his students seemed reluctant to recognize the connection between an interaction on Facebook and writing for composition classes (p. 91). 7 Speaking further, S. Gilkeson (2015) has mentioned the remark of a student who defined Twitter as “stupid” and a “waste of time” which turned